Zombie Bowie

for my final, i plan to make advertisements for coffee.

I SEE YOU.

Salvador Dali (1904-1989)

Photographer Philippe Halsman (1906-1979)
Gelatin silver print, 1944
Published December 2000
Jane Halsman Bello © Halsman Estate

photomontage

this collage is meant to represent how my midterms week have felt. procrastination in the left hand, the work piling up in the right hand. the clock hands in the background are a reflection on my own hands, holding time.

Where I'd Rather Be

Partner Portrait

surrealism

Salvador Dali was born in 1904, in Figueres, Spain. He attended the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts, and had his first show in 1925. In 1928, his work was displayed at the Carnegie International Exhibition. His work The Persistence of Memory is one of his most famous, and with this, he was a leader in the new "Surrealist Movement", later having been expelled during a clash with the others. During WWII, he escaped to the US where he was given an exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art. A few years later he started to move away from surrealism, and into more common themes, like religion and science. In 1989 he passed away due to heart failure/respiratory complications.

Mark Mumford was born in 1950, Swansea, England. He is a retired graphic designer/photographer, and at one point did watercolor. His influences include both Dali and Escher. His collective works include photographs he has taken over the years that he has compiled in photoshop.

Artist’s Name: Salvador Dali

Title: Swans Reflecting Elephants

Date: 1937

Description: Swans floating in a wide open waterhole, reflecting as elephants standing in front of the same water. The values of both are very similar, with the exception of slight shading on the elephants. The lines of the swans and elephants are continued upward by the trees.

Analysis: This piece is fairly symmetrical vertically, with either side of the piece balanced by surrounding plateaus. Horizontally, on the other hand, the piece is asymmetrical, which feels like a precursor to photographer's rule of thirds.

Interpretation: In the deepest interpretation, I find the meaning of this piece to be that you shouldn't judge so quickly. If you look a little deeper, you may find something that you never would at first glance. Beauty can be found in everything. That said, I'm also debating on the fact that it had meaning in the first place, or if he just really liked painting the curves of the elephant/swan.

Judgement: All in all, I think Dali made quite a successful piece. It's illusionary, using the same exact colors, the same exact tones, but entirely different subjects. I enjoy the fact that if you hold it upside down, you can still see the swans on top and the elephants on bottom.

Artist’s Name: Mark Mumford

Title: Pilgrimage of the Sacrificial Lamb

Date: 2008

Description: Two hol(e?)y figures on a trek across an abandoned area.

Analysis: The figures take up a lot of density in the piece, balanced out by the vertical asymmetry and horizontal symmetry. There is definite emphasis in the picture, as the cross is the first place my eyes focus.

Interpretation: While this isn't his only piece featuring the slaughtered lamb, this one draws my attention mostly because of the pure white robes worn by the subjects. The cross, to me, symbolizes an emptiness, while the deep red is repeated throughout this series.

Judgement: I enjoy this piece for its deep, rich color use, and while it is surreal, it has a reason for its creation. The vast background is continuous, but my eyes have a place to rest on the white figures. I think there is more meaning to it than I can see from my point of view, I wish he had a description of it himself.

Clearly, these are two different artist styles. In Dali's work, you can see careful planning took place, such as the trees behind the swans turn into elephant feet. Mumford's work is very similar to Dali-style work, as the background is quite simple, but still in tone to the subject. That said, Mumford admits to compiling photographs from different points in time in his work. Both Dali and Mumford have definite color palettes, which gives their works unity. Mumford uses photoshop collaging as his tool instead of paint, and thus the quality may differ a little from photo to photo, whereas Dali's painting is done quite uniformly. I think it's difficult to really compare these two on originality, as they lived a half-century apart and Mark is obviously influenced by Salvador. Though Dali's work seems a bit more typical of the definition of "surrealism", I wonder what he would do in Photoshop if he lived today. Would he still be that same leader?